Mr. Dibbs battling liver disease, seeking help from community

News broke overnight that Mr. Dibbs, a one-time Atmosphere tourmate and friend of the Twin Cities' Rhymesayers label, has been undergoing a series of surgeries after being diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver. Though he typically uses his Twitter account to promote fellow hip-hop artists' mixtapes, Mr. Dibbs, a.k.a. Cincinnatti-born Brad Forste, has been using his handle to send out updates from his hospital visits, the most recent of which was on October 17.

Friends and family of Forste have set up a Facebook page, PayItForward2MrDibbs, to get the word out about his illness and request financial assistance from the hip-hop community, citing astronomical hospital bills.

[jump] Read the full statement from the tribute page here:

Mr Dibbs, the innovative DJ and producer, the one who has given so much of himself and his heart through music, entertainment and now food, has come to a place in his life where he is in need of our help. Last month he was diagnosed with Cirrhosis which is the scarring of the liver and poor liver function. It is the final phase of chronic liver disease. He is no longer able to work being that he is in and out of the hospital too much. In just a month, having no insurance, his medical bills have reached over $485,000. Please, if you can spare it, any amount would help. You can make donations directly to Brad through the paypal account email [email protected] Go to www.paypal.com, click send money, in the TO address type in: [email protected] You can follow Brad's progress at www.twitter.com/mrdibbs. Thank you all.

In addition to touring heavily with Atmosphere in the '90s, Mr. Dibbs is known as one of the founding members of the Scribble Jam, a yearly rapping, DJing, graffiti, b-boying, and beatboxing competition that has since become the country's largest hip-hop festival. He released his first solo album, The 30th Song, on Rhymesayers back in 2003, and has more recently toured as the DJ for rapper El-P.